Black Mountain by Greig Beck

hours, they were liquid – muscle, hair, even bone. We had to incinerate the remains in an industrial furnace, as the residue was still active and aggressively infectious.’
    Weisz nodded towards the bed. ‘With the bacterium active again, it would have been the same with this specimen. Within twenty-four to forty-eight hours we would have had nothing left to work with. So we immediately brought the body temperature back up to sixty degrees, just below room temperature, and increased the dosage for the Arcadian treatment that was brought in with him. We have no idea how his body metabolises the chemical compounds, as they’ve proved fatal to every other subject they’ve been administered to. But ever since, his body has been squeezing out the denatured Hades bacterium.’
    Weisz looked like he was about to touch the man’s face, but instead let his gloved fingers hover just above the slimy flesh. ‘The microorganism is now fully degraded; the tertiary and secondary structures, the bonding interactions, are all fully disrupted. Seems the treatment, and the specimen’s unique metabolism, are the only systems that can mount a defence to overwhelm the invaders.’ He shrugged. ‘If only we knew how they do it.’ He straightened. ‘Every now and then he wakes, yells a few garbled sentences, then lapses back into unconsciousness.’
    Adira pushed past the scientist and leaned slightly towards the figure on the bed. When she saw the leather and canvas cuff restraints on his hands and feet, she felt her heart rate start to lift. Anger bloomed in her belly and her lips compressed in displeasure.
    Weisz chortled, probably interpreting her expression as disgust at the smell or the man’s physical appearance. ‘Go ahead, it’s safe to be close. Just won’t be very pleasant until the body’s finished excreting the microorganism’s protein shell. The suit I’m wearing is regulation for this level, not specifically for protection from this oily, oversized goyim .’ He smiled and used his pen to prod Alex’s body through a clean section of the sheet. ‘I, personally, have taken several slices from the subject and I can guarantee there is no viable infectious agent remaining.’
    Adira felt a charge go through her body. It was the same feeling she had before she killed an enemy agent. She steeled herself, closing her eyes momentarily. When she opened them, she turned to face the scientist, using all her will to keep her voice even. She failed, her voice increasing in intensity on each word. ‘You are anatomising? Who authorised this?’
    The force of her voice and gaze seemed to make Weisz suddenly unsure of himself.
    ‘Uh, the general, General Shavit. He authorised the increase in temperature on the basis that the subject was useless to us in a nexus between life and death – too alive to dissect, too dead to consciously assist us in our testing. We hoped the raised temperature and dosage would retrieve him to a state we could work with. And it worked.’
    Adira felt her mouth go dry. ‘You are not working with him. You are working on him!’
    The scientist stepped back as her glare turned volcanic. He must have realised she was no simple functionary sent by the ministry. Adira moved closer to the scientist, not sure what she was intending to do to him. Before she could act, the figure on the bed reached out and grabbed her around the wrist. The thick straps of the heavy leather restraints hung from his wrist like tattered streamers.
    Adira grunted, first from shock, then from pain. Alex still hadn’t opened his eyes, but he hadn’t reached out blindly; he’d seemed to know where she was. She gritted her teeth at the excruciating pain as his grip compressed the bones in her forearm.
    Weisz dropped his clipboard and moved to a panel of buttons on the wall, obviously intending to call in security.
    ‘Stay where you are!’ Adira’s voice froze his hand in midair.
    Weisz stood rigid for a few seconds, before edging